Monday, April 16, 2012

Headlines - Monday April 16

Wonkette: Well this is unfortunate. After the Great Mommy War (Redux) of Two-Thousand-And-Twelve, which pitted the Sanctity of Motherhood and America against one lesbo(and Barack Obama), and which was second only to the Great Wonkette Commenter Riots for the year's most devastating bloodshed, it seems General Romney may have turncoated his own once-firmly held ideals and beliefs! You see, it turns out that he too thinks that stay-at-home-moms have never worked a day in their lives — at least if they are on welfare. Then all of a sudden motherhood is no longer the holiest calling and most important job in the universe! So does that make Ann Romney a welfare queen? No, because her Cadillacs are not apocryphal. Up With Chris, can you roll that ancient, long-forgotten tape from all the way back in January?

"I wanted to increase the work requirement [for people on welfare]," Romney said. "I said, for instance, that even if you have a child two years of age, you need to go to work. And people said, 'Well that's heartless,' and I said 'No, no, I'm willing to spend more giving daycare to allow those parents to go back to work. It'll cost the state more providing that daycare, but I want the individuals to have the dignity of work.'"

It's so weird, it's almost like the Romney camp will say anything if they think it will give them an advantage, whether they believe it or not! Here, let us watch it together, and then go find a lazy stupid welfare mom to jump for being poor.

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Politicians from both parties are already bad with transparency, but this is ridiculous. Mr. 14% tax rate has to be worried about discounted rate while regular working Americans suffer through this economy wondering how they will make ends meet. At the moment it sounds like he has his tax team on this to make it look less embarrassing for Romney. Who believes that his tax rate is suddenly going to look anything remotely like the unwashed masses? It's going to take some work to make this anywhere near the rate that others are paying.

Michele "pinwheel eyes" Bachmann was on the teevee machine this morning, appearing on Meet the Press to defend the GOP and downplay the war the republican House majority and rethug-controlled statehouses all over the country have waged against women since taking their seats in January of last year.

It's almost like they came into their offices determined to punish us uppity sluts because we left them for a black guy a couple years earlier.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), who wants to outlaw abortion and restrict coverage of female contraception, on Sunday insisted that Republican members of Congress "want women to have their own choices."

During a Sunday interview on NBC, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) spoke out against a Republican effort to allow employers to restrict health plans from covering contraceptives for women.

"The Republican Party of the House of Representatives have made it part of their agenda that they want bosses to tell women what medicines they are eligible to take," she explained. "Nothing could be more insulting. Ninety-nine percent of America's women take birth control in their lifetime. This is a debate that has long been settled."

"But this Congress - starting with H.R. 1 - has made an effort...," Gillibrand said, before she was interrupted by the Minnesota congresswoman.

"That's a false portrayal," Bachmann argued. "What we want is women to be able to make their own choices. We want women to make choices."

"Not when your boss tells you, you can't," Gillibrand pointed out.

"We want health savings accounts and the ability to be able to make their own choices in health care," Bachmann insisted. "You see, that's the lie that happens under Obamacare. The president of the United States effectively becomes a health care dictator. Women don't need anyone to tell them what to do on health care. We want women to have their own choices, their own money."

"That waythey can make their own choices for their future on their own bodies," she added.

Unless, of course, a woman chooses abortion. Or to get her reproductive healthcare through Planned Parenthood. That's different. Somehow.

A so-called "covenant marriage" bill that restricts the ability to divorce in some cases has advanced out of an Alabama state senate committee.

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When did Republican politics include the ridiculous notion of eliminating cabinet level departments and agencies? Romney wants to eliminate "a lot" apparently.

In a closed-door speech to donors at a private home in Florida on Sunday, Mitt Romney was unusually candid about his policy plans, offering details about what he expects to implement if elected president in November.

According to NBC News, the former Massachusetts governor said he may decide to eliminate several government agencies, including the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which was once led by his father, George Romney.

"I'm going to take a lot of departments in Washington, and agencies, and combine them. Some eliminate, but I'm probably not going to lay out just exactly which ones are going to go," Romney said. "Things like Housing and Urban Development, which my dad was head of, that might not be around later."

The naming of HUD is pure Southern Strategy. Eliminate the department that helps minorities. Un-fucking-believable.